I must admit that I have not been able to recharge my batteries lately, 
so my output of poetry has ground to a halt.  I don't have a lot of 
creative downtime; my current life doesn't seem to be too accomodating 
to that outside of gaming.

Suggestions?  Be nice, or you'll set off an already sore inferiority 
complex..

23 responses total.

Hm.  Perhaps I'll start a different game.
Also, I tend to find that my creative juices go down in December and January,
and usually start recharging in February or March.  It's a winter thing, for
me, I guess.

stuff's been sluggish around here since autumn.  I, also, am trying to boost
activity (I brought us a new playmate, Rebecca). (;

Only the new playmate is completely incapable of producing a coherent game
tonight.  Errr...  I'll work on it?

cool beans. (;

Playmate? *perks up*
Oh, that's not what you mean...

Well, that's not what she meant for the conference...

(j cflirt at the Ok: prompt)

Natalie Goldberg suggests that taking in new experiences should be your first
priority if you want to have a well of ideas to draw on.  Of course, she's
also a big fan of "making time to write," but I'd go even further and say it
might be more important to see and do new things than it is to schedule time
to sit down with a pen and paper.  New things inspire you, and inspiration
makes you damn well _find_ time to write; but staring at a blank page is
nothing but a drain.

I hadn't written anything in months till I moved again, and now the new lump
of experiences are giving themselves words.  <shrug>  so I concur.

Woohoo!  Vindication! <g>

resp:8  I would agree with that.  Depression, frustration, 
disappointment, and mundane days have made for a dearth of creativity.

Note: I compose *here*, and for years, rarely have I written anything 
to paper.  Somehow, I can't compete anymore, at least, not right now.

<quiet jealous murmur>

For my part, I disagree. If you're out having new experiences, you don't have
time to write. *shrug*

Writing about experiences sounds too much like "What I did on my summer
vacation" inspiration. Then again, I haven't written much of late either.

Somehow, brighn, I doubt that most of the poets and authors throughout history
would agree with you.  Indeed, it seems to be a general consensus among
authors that experience stimulates inspiration.
Here's a modern example of an author for you, one who publishes something like
two novels a year, popular ones, and yet manages to find time to ride
horseback, rehabilited wild birds, raise and train for hawking other birds,
raise still more birds for housepets, go to racing school (cars), participate
in the Society for Creative Anachronism, be a volunteer fireman, practice a
Pagan religion, travel to signings and conferences, AND write her novels and
short stories, AND have a homelife.
Personally, I would think Mercedes Lackey's a good counter example, just off
the top of my head.  But I could also talk about Rita Mae Brown, the late
great Isaac Asimov, the likewise Robert Heinlein, and any number of very good,
and quite prolific, authors who do LOTS of things other than write, and bring
that outside experience to their stories.
Only people who count writing among the least of their hobbies don't find time
to write because they're "too busy."  Those who write because of profession,
vocation, or passion MAKE time to write, because they must.
Nobody here is a professional, or, I suppose, trying to be one, so that lets
out the first two options, but I tend to assume that people who write poetry
write from passion.  Either it's there or it isn't, and if it's there, then
it's not a matter of not having time.  You simply do it.
Passion comes from life, so the best way to get passion moving is to go out
and live life.

Mercedes Lackey? I wanted examples of worthwhile authors, not hack writers.
(Actually, I didn't want examples at all.) That aside, though, I can't see
how the bulk of Asimov's or Heinlein's writings (both fine authors, who did
lead active lives outside of their careers) could have come from their own
experiences, at least not directly. I don't believe Asimov ever encountered
killer robots, and I doubt Heinlein ever met a Martian.

Yeah, yeah, go out, live life, sure. That may be where inspiration originates
for some people, I guess, but I suppose my reaction was based on a sense I
sometimes get that all inspiration comes from real life. It doesn't, by a long
shot, and quality of writing doesn't necessarily correspond to how engaged
the author is with "reality."

Don't be so sure that nobody here is or desires to be a professional writer.
I have made money at writing, and I know that others here have been trained.
I'm not sure how relevant that detail is anyway.

"Passion comes from life, so the best way to get passion moving is to go out
and live life." -- Great for a Hallmark card, but philosophically vacuous
(both non-sequitorial and tautological, on different linguistic levels).

Interesting.

I don't think I was trying to say that there's anything inherently, uh,
logogenic about new experiences.  And if I _was_ trying to say that, I'm gonna
stop trying right now.  <g>  Seems like for every inspired-by-life author
there's some guy like Trollope who just sits down and spews words every
morning before going to the same job, for decades on end.

I also don't think I was trying to say that you should go out and write
_about_ new experiences, necessarily.  When i find myself in new
circumstances, I guess I tend to notice lots of details I wouldn't have
noticed on an average day, and for me inspiration tends to come from little
details.  

Oh, and "YMMV."

*shrug*  Okay, skip Lackey (although I like her stuff, at least as brain
candy, and so do lots of people). Take Heinlein and Asimov.  Surely, if
not actual Martians, then the "Martian"
philosophy came from real life.  So did people's reactions to the killer
robots (or, more usually in the little I've read, well-programmed robots who
are incapable of killing) in Asimov's.

I wasn't necessarily talking about *new* experiences, mind you, but about any
experiences.
At any rate, I mostly objected to your statement that people who are out
having new experiences or living life are too busy to write.

Actually, a significant part of the "Martian" philosophy is illegal to discuss
positively in Michigan (yes, DISCUSS), but that's my own issue. =}

And Ori should know by now that I was just being contrariwise. If he'd said
that people should wall themselves up and avoid interactions in order to find
time to write, I'd've told him to go out and live life and let that become
what he had to say.

I guess HAL was the big killer computer thingie, and that's Clarke. Asimov
had the nicey-nice robots in I, Robot, etc. Although I though they went
haywire. *shrug*

Logogenic? Such a word, you're going to make me horny, Ori.

FWIW, I'd suggest you just don't worry about it, Jon.  Creativity happens,
or it doesn't.  Trying to force it is just begging for frustration.  Now,
if you've an idea but can't seem to get it into words, that's different. 
Then you're just another tortured artist.  :)  But if you just don't have 
any ideas, relax.  Don't worry about it.  Do something else, read some 
good books, whatever.  Sooner or later, the old juices will start 
flowing again.  :)
  Then of course, there's my own observation:  I'm a lot more creative and 
inspired and such when I'm unhappy than when I'm content. 

I must be in bleedin' ecstacy, then. ;}

Okay, I'll bite, Paul (re: Heinlein, not re: "logogenic."  Sorry to
disappoint):

What part of the martian philosophy is illegal to discuss?  Why?
---
I've noticed what flem mentions, too -- I do write more when I'm unhappy. 
A lot more.  Judging from the themes we get a lot of in this conference, I
think most of us are the same way.  

Maybe a year ago, I noticed that most of my poetry was on exactly those
subjects that I hate to read other people's poetry about: romantic
frustration, Why Life Is Pain, and the occasional love song. 
Unfortunately, noticing that had the effect of making it damned difficult
for me to write at all, since when I started writing on one of those
topics, I'd stop myself. 

So: thoughts on _channeling_ inspiration?  Is it possible to intentionally
choose a subject to have ideas about?  Would it be desirable if you could?

It's illegal in the state of Michigan to promote polygamy as a viable
lifestyle.

"channeling" -- sounds like a reference to the Muse. (;

Well, okay.  So pretend I actually said what I _meant_ to say, yes?... :)

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